Such countries, according to Valery Tsybukh, could be the United States, Canada, Japan, North Korea, Switzerland and the European Union states. “Ukraine has all the necessary opportunities for the effective organization of tourism, attracting more foreigners to our country and, as a result, increasing the profitability of the tourism industry,” he said. The head of the State Tourism Administration recalled that the tourism sector in Ukraine is 7.5 thousand enterprises, 1.3 thousand hotels, about 3.3 thousand sanatorium and resort facilities. “We have about 100 resort and recreational areas, more than 160 thousand cultural and historical monuments, and we must use this potential,” noted Valery Tsybukh.
Currently, an experiment on visa-free entry for foreigners is being conducted at the Odessa and Simferopol airports. To cross the Ukrainian border without a visa, foreign tourists must pay $30 and also have a special voucher from a travel agency and information that will be provided by hotels in Odessa, Simferopol or other Ukrainian cities where they plan to stay. In this case, they are allowed to stay in Ukraine for 7 days. They can return home from any other city, not just Odessa or Simferopol.
“No one makes money on visas. If a tourist goes through the entire visa procedure once, he is unlikely to want to come to our country again. By simplifying the entry procedure, we will be able to attract more foreigners, which means attracting more money,” Valery Tsybukh believes. According to him, parliament is currently preparing a draft law on tourism, the adoption of which will make this sector more competitive. Speaking about the work of parliament, Tsybukh noted the abolition of the 20 percent hotel fee, which “brought to its knees” the domestic hotel business.
As the head of the State Tourism Administration reported, last year Ukraine was visited by 6.3 million foreign tourists. This year, according to preliminary estimates, this figure could reach 6.6 million. Traditionally, the largest number of tourists is expected from Russia, Moldova, Hungary, Belarus, and Poland.